Empowering Women in Developing Countries - Research Paper Example

?"Empowering Women in Developing Countries" Women account for almost fifty percent of the global population, they are the one who bear all the pain to bring the child to the world irrespective of the fact whether the child is male or female, genetically speaking they are impartial in contributing the child's genome, it is not the women who discriminate between males and females, but still they are highly underprivileged as far as global growth is concerned. The article emphasizes on the fact that empowering women in developing nations would be a major contribution towards economic, social and intellectual development and hence it is one step that is going to take a major leap in the development of the nation as well as strengthening the nation in all aspects may it be family or the outer world, if women are aware and educated they are going to rear and nurture the children well and thereby a step ahead in the growth process. Introduction Women take up all the responsibilities of the family and still they are methodically deprived of the possessions, sources and resources, information and liberty to act independently. Studies indicate that major poor population, as well as major percentage of illiterates present in the world encompasses women. It is women who takes the back seat, right from the childhood where she is deprived of school education and to sacrifice everything to meet the family requirements. Health and well-being of women in developing nations HIV is becoming more prevalent in women as compared to men. It is estimated that in southern African nations, almost 75% of the AIDS victims are women. In the present scenario when there is a hike in food prices, there is an enormous influence on the health of women because of starvation in order to feed the little available meals to her children. Thus, women are facing severe malnutrition and hence they are deciding the fate of their wards too (Empowering Women as Key Change Agents). Research studies conducted across the world support the fact that when appropriate opportunities are being provided to women, it benefits the society. A concern is more in a healthy manner, they will be able to nurture and groom their kids, they will be contributing in earning for the families and this enhances the family income. Thus, making the communities more resilient and buoyant (Empowering Women as Key Change Agents). Empowering women will resolve the issue of starvation and deprivation as well as it will enable the family in improving the financial condition. Empowering women will help the women to develop their capacities (Empowering Women as Key Change Agents). Participation in Economic matters Programs such as Microfinance enable women to be connected with revenue producing tasks to enhance their profits and then to endow in the development of family and hence a great contribution towards the improvement of society (Empowering Women as Key Change Agents). Under the Hunger Project, 78,000 women were empowered in India, where state-wide confederations have been formulated and their viewpoint is attended by authorities and government officials. In Bangladesh, National Girl Child Day is celebrated every September to exterminate discernment against girl child prevailing in the country (Empowering Women as Key Change Agents). Survey manifests that almost in every nation women work more than men, and for longer duration but they are under paid and hence they are forced to live in scarcity and shortage of resources. Economic opportunity Survey also postulate that women devote more time in household activities and for the maintenance of the family and children. In most of the developing nations women living in rural areas are forced to carry water and accumulate wood for fuel. In these nations the condition of women is more miserable as they have to participate in more labour-intensive jobs such as in agriculture, crop production, plucking and selling of green grocery, taking care of cattle, in construction of buildings. It is highly laborious and as per the input of efforts they do not procure the payment (Women's Rights). Exploitation of women is present in almost every sector as women are considered as the weaker section of the society in major part of the world. Although, every nation has a say that they provide equal opportunities to the women, but practically it is not so. The unpaid work encompassing preparation of food for the family and other household work is the responsibility of women only in almost all developing nations. Taking care of the children and other family members is the sole responsibility of women in these developing nations, the direct implications of these activities and tasks is on the health of women (Women's Rights). There could be enhanced unpaid struggle for women if the member(s) of the family is through some kind of ailment providing more financial burden on the family. In this case a women could herself be the sufferer of some chronic ailment, the condition becomes devastating. It is observed that women belonging to less financially sound background remain with more unpaid work and they may be asked to work for longer duration. Their job may encompass more labour intensive work and they are forced to admit humiliating or mortifying jobs under severe conditions but still for the sake of family and children they accept and bear all the sufferings (Women's Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap). Gender gaps The variations in the work prototypes between both the genders is depicted in the form of biased wages and men are always given upper hand then women in the national accounts. This diminishes the self-esteem of the women. Women’s minor admittance to possessions and to be short of attention towards gender in policies encompassing macroeconomics leads to discrimination, causing gender gaps to disseminate. It is observed that in developing nations, as soon as the girl reaches adolescence, they are asked to spend majority of their time in household activities and they have to train and prepare themselves to take up all the responsibilities of the family. On the other hand boys are asked to devote their time in small wage work. On reaching the adulthood girls tend to work more than boys, on the other hand since they have little experience in labour work outside they are paid less. In this case the quality of work does not matter, thus, girls earn less so they have less spare time , earn less and there is little time for amusement and also for relaxation (Women's Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap). All these actions directly affect the coming generations. The temperament of the societies in developing nations is not to invest on the daughter's education, rather they incline them to take part in household activities as that is going to help them in long run rather than studies. Empowering Women through Education: Education Attainment "Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process." —ICPD Programme of Action, paragraph 4.2 Education is the light in an individual's life. It creates an awareness as well as understanding for the surroundings and situations. It provides women with a power to grasp the situation and also a vision to react towards the circumstances. It is essential for the uplifting the entire family as well as the society (Gender Equality). It is therefore essential for the developing nations to invest of girls education as it is the most efficient method to eradicate poverty. Girls who remain uneducated tend to marry at early age and therefore they have more children as compared to the educated girls who marry late in the life and therefore they have small and improved family health. Although the literacy percentage of women in developing nations is far less than men. Education empowers women to distinguish between the commodities which are healthy for the family and those which are harmful. Education empowers women with an insight and understanding for their rights and this boost their self-confidence and enable them to claim their rights (Gender Equality). Educated women can distinguish what is good and healthy for their family and therefore opt for those stuffs only while eliminating unhealthy items, thus contribute towards a healthy family, which is the basic unit of the society (Empowering Women, Developing Society: Female Education in the Middle East and North Africa.). Impact of education Mother directly influences the children and hence education of mother is imperative in all aspects. Educated mother is empowered with resources for the children and hence secure better future for the child. An educated mother is well aware of the size of the family and could devote time in attending each child and hence could contribute in the development of the children and hence in the progress of the society. According to the 1994 Cairo Consensus, assess education for women as a social and economic progress. 20-year goal was set as a universal completion for primary education also efforts are being made to procure secondary and other higher education degrees. Millennium Development Goals were set where in 2015 is set as the yardstick to close the gender gap. Thus education is the most imperative factor in empowering the women, as only an educated women could generate a better future for the children, family and hence the society. It empowers the women in all aspects of life and enable women to possess an understanding towards tights and communication in an appropriate manner (Gender Equality). Political Empowerment Apart from education, it is imperative that women must possess rights in other aspects of life encompassing- own land or to succeed to property, access to credit, freedom from job prejudice. In developing nations women are not asked as far as any important decision is concerned may it be social or family decision, little importance is been given to the concern of women. Conclusion Dealing with these discriminations all the way through laws and communal guiding principles is an approach of formalizing the goal of gender equality. In some of the nations legal alterations are being made to empower the female gender in all aspects of life, irrespective of the field once dominated by the males. Amendments made to implement the reforms to uplift and empower the weaker section of the society irrespective of the class, women, has now emerged as a strong emotional as well as intellectual being in these developing nations in some of the privileged urban section, but the story about the rural section is still a long way yet to commence. Efforts to empower women in developing nations is still only at the tip of the iceberg and there is a long way to march ahead for strengthening women in all phases not only socially, culturally, intellectually, economically but a complete holistic approach is desired. After analysing the research studies it is concluded that women are weak as far as emotional form is concerned they are inclined more when family issues and children need their attention and therefore they give up their opportunities even though they are highly educated and are highly honoured. This has always been taken advantage by the male dominant society, but a deep understanding is yet to be formulated to consider women as a human being and not a super multipurpose machine. Reforms are being made but still how aware are women in the developing nations is far from reality and therefore it is necessary to create lasting modifications for complete empowerment of the women, in procuring education, removal of illiteracy, employment as well as reproductive choice is concerned. References Empowering Women as Key Change Agents. Available at http://www.thp.org/what_we_do/program_overview/empowering_women?gclid=CNiGzbnUr6kCFYl66woduT87Lw. [Accessed on 12th June 2011]. Empowering Women, Developing Society: Female Education in the Middle East and North Africa. Available at http://www.prb.org/Publications/PolicyBriefs/EmpoweringWomenDevelopingSocietyFemaleEducationintheMiddleEastandNorthAfrica.aspx. [Accessed on 12th June 2011]. Gender Equality. Available at http://www.unfpa.org/gender/empowerment.htm. [Accessed on 12th June 2011]. Women's Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap. Available at https://members.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gender_gap.pdf. [Accessed on 12th June 2011]. Women's Rights. Available at http://www.globalissues.org/article/166/womens-rights. [Accessed on 12th June 2011]. Read More